Police slow 'rivers of grog' but hospital admissions rise

Policing of regional Northern Territory bottle shops has decreased excessive drinking, but alcohol-related hospital admissions are up and there are fears that new policies could see more Aboriginal people being sent to jail for being drunk.

Transcript

SARAH FERGUSON, PRESENTER: It appears that stationing police officers outside bottle shops in regional towns in the Northern Territory has had a significant impact on alcohol consumption.

The latest figures show consumption has dropped to the lowest level on record. But the statistics don't include the impact of mandatory rehabilitation or punitive protection orders, policies that critics say will result in Aboriginal people being sent to jail for being drunk.

A new federal parliamentary inquiry is promising to test the evidence.

Michael Coggan reports from Darwin.

MICHAEL COGGAN, REPORTER: On a weeknight in Darwin, a crowd has gathered in the city pub precinct for a drink.

A block away, a group of six Indigenous women who've been drinking most of the day are sitting on the pavement sheltering from the rain.

NOVA PERIS, NT LABOR SENATOR: You want this place to be a place where people can come, have a good time and feel safe.

MICHAEL COGGAN: Territory Labor Senator Nova Peris, who's keen to find out about what's happening on the streets of the northern capital.

This woman from the Torres Strait is trying to get through a catering course, but can't get access to permanent housing and is struggling with alcoholism.

WOMAN: I have - I am doing, I'm trying to get up and I'm finding it hard. I'm doing it now. Who are we?

NOVA PERIS: You're somebody. We're all somebody.

WOMAN: Yeah. And they think that we're nobody.

MICHAEL COGGAN: Aboriginal people come into towns from remote communities and drink outdoors, making it a very public problem.

NOVA PERIS: Alcohol's not just an Indigenous problem. We are confronted with Indigenous issues because of housing. Like, those ladies, they weren't from Darwin, they were from communities that came in, so they're homeless and they drink when they come into town and it's easy to get alcohol when they're in town. When you look at alcohol-related violence, when you look at foetal alcohol syndrome, when you look at all the chronic diseases, all this sort of stuff, it goes back to the one thing and it's commonly known as, you know, the white man's poison.

MICHAEL COGGAN: To combat what Nova Peris calls the "rivers of grog", the Territory Government has introduced a range of tough new measures with a focus on police intervention. And it appears to be working. Figures released last month show estimated pure alcohol consumption in the Territory last financial year dropped below 13 litres per adult for the first time on record. But it's still well above the national average of just under 10 litres.

ADAM GILES, NT CHIEF MINISTER: We're seeing a reduction in wholesale consumption of alcohol and what we put that down to is more targeted or better targeted policing operations on the street in the Northern Territory since we've taken office.

People living in dry Aboriginal communities or town camps aren't allowed to drink at home and face having alcohol seized.

ADAM GILES: What we did was put more police on the ground and greater intensive efforts around those chronic alcoholics, people who police know have - will be and have been repeat offenders in the past. And since the time when those statistics started coming down, we've put in even more measures to ensure that we get a greater reduction in crime.

MICHAEL COGGAN: But the Police Union argues that resources are being stretched doing what should be the responsibility of the alcohol industry.

VINCE KELLY, NT POLICE ASSOCIATION: We effectively now have police enforcing a supply measure, where I argue that that responsibility should rest with the people making the money.

MICHAEL COGGAN: The Police Association has questioned the political will to cut sales of alcohol given the fact that the Australian Hotels Association is a big donor to the two major parties.

VINCE KELLY: No-one I know gives $150,000 to someone and doesn't expect something back in return. What person in their right mind would give away money like that and not expect to have some positive outcome for them?

ADAM GILES: Look, I don't respond to any comments by Vince Kelly from the Police Association. I think that he plays politics rather than trying to provide a positive outcome to change people's lives in the Territory.

MICHAEL COGGAN: When the mandatory alcohol rehabilitation centre in Darwin opened last July, it was estimated to cost around $40,000 to put someone through the treatment program.

More than 200 people have been ordered into mandatory rehab, but there are differing views on whether it's making any difference.

ADAM GILES: Now we know that there are many in the social sector who don't like us having people go through an alcohol treatment program. I say to those people: isn't it better to have someone have the opportunity to get off alcohol rather than have them remain on alcohol, particularly with the potential to commit more domestic violence offences?

MICHAEL COGGAN: Mandatory treatment has Federal Government backing.

NIGEL SCULLION, FEDERAL INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS MINISTER: We can't keep treating people who are sick as criminals, however annoying they might be. People that are alcoholics are ill and the only way that we're going to stop them from annoying the community, damaging people around them and damaging their communities is to make sure they're made well again and that isn't by putting them in jail.

MICHAEL COGGAN: But organisations representing Aboriginal people say there's no evidence mandatory rehab is making any difference.

PRISCILLA COLLINS, NORTH AUST. ABORIGINAL JUSTICE AGENCY: When we've had our lawyers go to the assessment centre, which is the first stage that people are taken to, they're really, really confused. One, they're not using interpreters, so that's a disadvantage for Aboriginal people who have English as a third or fourth language, so they don't actually understand why they are there.

MICHAEL COGGAN: One of the drinkers Nova Peris meets has just finished three months of rehab, but she's back on the grog.

WOMAN II: I was there for three months in rehab and we didn't like it. The Government, like, like, like, like - it's wrong, you know.

MICHAEL COGGAN: A newer policy tool takes a more punitive approach and has raised concern about alcoholism being criminalised. Issued by police, Alcohol Protection Orders stop people from going anywhere near grog with a threat of jail time.

PRISCILLA COLLINS: What we're finding is the Alcohol Protection Orders are being issued out really like lolly paper out on the streets. I mean, you can be issued one just for drinking on the street, for drink driving. They're really being handed out. We've already had 500 handed out this year.

MICHAEL COGGAN: Legal Aid and the Police Union disagree on whether the protection orders will help, but both are worried the tough response will put more pressure on the overstretched prison system and they're urging all levels of government to take a long, hard look at what the evidence shows.

VINCE KELLY: The community and the Government and everybody else needs to ask itself what the end game is. Are we going to end up with even fuller jails? And the fact of the matter is is no matter what legislation we introduce, we're not going to arrest our way out of alcohol abuse and Aboriginal disadvantage in the Northern Territory.